Mud guard for wheels of vehicles



A. GERMANN AND E. LANG.

Mun GUARD Foa WHEELS oF VEHICLES.

ILED JAN'. I9 192| 1,41 5 ,436, Patented May 9, 1922 Y 2 EEEEEEEEEEEE l. v

f- [i/e722???- A. GERMANN AND E. LANG.

MUD GIJARD FOR WHEILS 0F VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I9, 192,1.

1,41 5 ,436, Patented May 9, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- IIII lot Switzerland, Switzerland, have ings, and to Aletters or mudguards for`wheels of used. YThis :difficulty if the wall ofthe. mudguard extends to more 'trated 1` N il?. .cfr i fai.

series.

ALBERT GERMANN lAND ERNST LANG, or sfr. GALLEN, SWITZERLAND Muneuannron Wi-IEELS or VEHICLES.

Application filed January 19,1921.

To all whom t may concern Be itknown that we, ALBERT GERMANN and .ERNST LANG,

residing at St. Gallen,

Vehicles; Vvand we doV hereby vdeexact description of thek invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which f it appertains to makeand use the same, referencelbeing hadto the, accompanying drawfigures of Areference specification.

The invention relates to improvements in vehicles ,such as automobiles, motor-cycles and the like. The known mudguards lforl wheels 'of vehicles provided with, one side wall atthe outer side of the wheel present the disadvantage that the mud is thrown from the marked thereon, which lform a part of this `inner side of the vehicle tothe opposite side of' the latter. Furthermore mudguards with moreor'less rigid guard wallscannot be so,

the smallest possible arranged as to occupy space defined by their construction without,

`for' instance, disconnectingsome of their parts, which may be"necessa ry when packing the mudguards for despatch or when stowingthe guards away ,when they Aare not increases considerably than one side of the wheel.

The object of the present invention is a mudguard for wheels of vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles andthe like,which is characterized by the' feature that'the wheel is covered at its outer side,'iat its inner side and at the back by means eta p'retecting'- which is supported by' ai fixed .to the vehicle and wall, or member, frame detachably which wall may be folded against the frame.

Thus the possibilit-y exists to bring the pro-f the frame intoone horin tecting wall .and

zontal plane whereby the space required by thek detached frame and the'protecting wall 'j is limited to a minimum.

Asv the protecting wall does not need to `be disconnected from the framethe mudguard can be ixedin the operative-position in 'a veryshort time.

The accompany'ing.y drawings illustrate by way of exampleseveral out the invention. In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side .View of a front wheelof Specification of Letters Patent.

citizens of the Republic Vinventedl certain Lnew and useful Improvements in yMud Guards for i Vheelsof clare the following to be' a clear, full7 and example,

`constructional aexample,

vsupporting modes of carrying Patented May e, 1922. 'serial No; 438,397.

an automobile provided with a mudguard according tovone constructional example,

FlgfQ- shows inga'n end view the wheel 1 Wheel.' f

andthe guard seen from'thelrear Fig. l3 is aplan'view of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4' illustrates aside view of a kvfront eel ofgan automobile guard accordingv to a secondconstructional Fig. l5 -isan end view of the wheel land guardgshownv in Fig. L Lv-andf seen from the vrear wheel,

f1 Fig. 6 is a vertical section on a larger 'scale through the guard shown in 'F ig. 1", j

j F lgs-7, 8 and 9 illustrate Yon a 'larger scale a detail v'in a side view, view,

v ention; this illustrationshows at the Same time the'manner of stowing the mudguards foot board when not used.

thira examine,

guard wall for the third yexstructional exampleand 1 Fig.k 1f? is a plan view of Fig. 16.

With all the constructional'examples illus denotes the frame'which extendsl tothree sides of the wheel Vof the automobile, vi. e." to its inner side, its rear side andl its outerside. The frame V1 is placed overa means of a'securing lever 3 provided on the frame, which lever maybe liitedagainst the action of aspringto' makethe frame 1 free so that the latter `may be detached from'the supporting' part l2. The supporting part 2, is rigidly fixed to theaxle ofthe automobile.

The' frame 1 shown in Figs-1, 2 and 3 forms a rigid structure, whereas in the'construc tional example illustrated in Figs. and 5 the frame together'with the guard memberis movably Varranged rela'- the lower part 1 of tively to the upper part 'of the frame.- In this arrangementv two bolts 10 are provided in each of the longitudinal sides'of the vframe,which bolts are linked to the lower c part`1 of the frame and coact at their other ends Withpivot pieces 13 fixed to theupper littedwith a mfudi l y `70 plan view andend Fig. 10 is a Vside view of'an automobile litted withl mudguards according to theinside view and part 2 and hel'dfto Athe latter byy part of the trame. A. compression spring 11 is placed over each bolt 10. tension spring provided at each of the two longitudinal sides of the frame and 1" denotes a bolt serving to act as a stop for the part 1 of the 'frame in its movement in one ot the longitudinal directions. The last described constructional example is specially adapted 'for vehicles with a weak, soft springing' action.

The guard member fitted to iframe 1 is forme-d in all the examples illustrated by means of a brush 4; which extends to the three sides ot the. trame. This brush may also be replaced Jfor example by a wire netting covered with cloth, or by parts made ot rubber or ot some insulating material. To hold the brush 4 a supporting' bar 5 of channelled cross section is hinged to trame 1, which bar abuts against an oblique facing provided on the frame (Fig. 6) and which is pressed bv means of springs 6 against the trame. The supporting; rod 5 is subdivided in the longitudinal direction into tour parts. one of which parts corresponds tothe length of the outer side ot' the trame, a second part corresponds to the length ot the inner side and the remaining two parts to the rear side of the trame. Every part ot the supporting bar and therefore every part of the brush connected therewith may be independently turned in an upward direction towards the trame (as is shown in chain-dotted lines in Fig. The brush itself is composed of single elements, one of which is illustrated in Figs. 729. As may be seen from these illust-rations every brush element is brovided with a band or clip 7 which may be made of aluminium, zinc plate or sheet brass. The clip is formed by two equal halves provided with lugs S and riveted together at these lugs. The inner part ot the clip is divided into two parts by means otl a member 9 and the bristles clamped in the clip are placed midway their length over said member 9 so that two brush parts are formed. The single brush elements are held by means ot their lugs in the supporting channels 5 which are widened to take up said lugs. The trame 1 .is provided with a second bar oi' channelled section 5a which supports a horizontally arranged brush ta projecting' closely towards the tyre of the wheel and extending. similarly to brush 4:, along the three sides ot the trame and beingalso composed ot single brush elements. Bv means of the two brushes 4 and 1-2 of which the Vlatter might also be arranged in an inclined position, a casing is formed enclosing the wheel on three sides, by which casing the' mud thrown up by the wheel is caught (by means ot the brush e) and by which the tyre is kept as clean as possible (by the action ot brush da). llVhen the trame l is detached from the supporting 12 denotes a part 2 and the brush t is turned up against the action of the springs 5, the brush t can be brought into the horizontal plane of the frame in which the brush La is arranged, in which state the whole mudguard, when not being` used, requires little space and may, for example, be placed in a cup board 13 provided below the foot board ot the automobile ('Fig. 10). This cup board may for instance be formed by an iron grating `tixed to the foot-board.

In the constructional example illustrated in Fig. 11-15 1 denotes the traine, 2 is the supporting parait and 4a the guard members or brushes. and 5 is the bar ot channel cross section tor supporting the brush andl hinged to the frame 1. To the frame 1 a bracket 15 is fixed ending in a. square part which is inserted into a sleeve 16. The latter Jforms part ot a holding member attached by means of a bolt 17 to a socket 18 of' an intermediate part 19. The intermediate part is inserted into a socket provided on the supporting part 2 and detachably fixed to said part by means otbolts 20. The holding member 16, 17 is held in position in the socket 18 bymeans ota nut 21 and aset screw 22, the latter engaging with notches provided on the bolt 17. Several such notches are provided one above the other whereby an adjustment in height ot the holding member and therefore of the brush is made possible. The sleeve 16 into which the bracket 15 is inserted is slit on one side and is provided on that side with a bolt 23 and a lever 24 eccentricallyl linked to said bolt. ln the position illustrated the sleeve 16 is tightened b v means of the lever 24, whereby the bracket 15 is secured to said sleeve. a projecting part 25 provided on the lever 24 engages in this position with an eye 26 provided on the bracket 15. The parts 25 and 26 thus prevent a displacement of the trame 1 in the longitudinal direction. By turning the lever 24 the sleeve 16 can be loosened whereupon the bracket 15 may be pulled out of the sleeve. In this manner the frame 1 together with the brushes 4: and a can easily be detached. Along each longitudinal side of the supporting 5 a tension spring 27 is provided below the turning axis ot said bar, which spring extends along the one halt ot the rear part ot the brush. Both ends of the tension spring 27 are iixed to the supporting bar 5 and are led through eyelets 28. rllhis spring 27 tends to keep the two parts ot the brush in an elastic manner in their' operative position. Vhen the two parts ot the brush connected by said tension spring are turned Yin an upward direction around the axis of the hinged joints (in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 12) the tension spring 27 secures the parts oi the brush in their raised position. Handles 29 provided on frame 1 facilitate to carry` out said turning operation. i

The constructional example illustrated in Figs. 16 and 17 diiers from that described above solely inthe manner Vin which the holding member 16, 17 is connected to the intermediate piece 19. The part 17 of the holding member is linked by two links 30 to the bifurcated end of the intermediate piece 19. A tightening bolt 31 diagonally arranged with regard to the four pivot points of the linked connections and cooperating by means of left and right hand thread with the heads 32 of two opposite pivot bolts enables to adjust the height of the frame 1 and of the brush 4 in a very convenient manner.

Then the frame 1 is fitted to the frame of the vehicle a simple turning up of the guard member et enables to inspect the portion of the tyre normally covered by the guard. The utilization of a brush for forming the guard member has the advantage, that the bristles provide said member with the necessary degree of stiffness and with a certain resiliency which latter feature is favourable when obstacles are met by the lower edge of the brushes. The feature of composing the brushes of single brush elements enables to repair worn out parts of the brush by exchanging the worn out elements. The arrangement of the bristles of the brush elements in metal clips presents the advantage, that these metal clips ensure a good lit in the supporting channel provided on the frame which enables an easy exchange of the brush elements, whereas such an exchange would be rendered diiiicult if the bristles were held iii wooden bodies as the latter are subject to well known alterations of their shape caused by atmospheric iniiuences.

1We claim:

1. A mud guard for automobiles and other vehicles, comprising guard members for the sides and back of a wheel and means to permit the individual members to be swung into a horizontal plane and held out of operative position.

2. A mud guard for automobiles and other vehicles, comprising guard members -for the sides and rear of the wheel arranged to swing away from the wheel, a spring for yieldingly holding said members in operative position, said spring also holding said members out vof operative position when moved substantially to horizontal position.

3. A mud guard bers for each side and the rear of the wheel arranged to swing away from the wheel and auxiliary guard members for the sides and rear of the wheel to prevent mudfrom? splashing above said latter members.

4. A mudguard for wheels of vehicles,

member lprovided for automobiles and other vb vehicles, comprising depending guard mem-v side, the outer side and the rear of thev wheel for retaining the mudv thrown up, said brushes being composed of single brush elements, a member hinged to the frame'yto` which member the brush elements are eX-' changeably secured and a second guard on said frame for cleaning the tyre.

5. A mudguard for wheels of i, vehicles, y

having in'combination a frame detachablyv iXed to the vehicle, guard members consisting of separated inner side, the outer side and the rearvof-the Wheel forv retaining the mud thrown up, said brushes being composed of single brush elements formed by metal clips in which-the bristles are clam said frame to which member the brush elements are eXchangeably secured and a second guard member cleaning the tyre.

6. A mudguard for wheels of vehicles, having in combination, guard members consisting of brushes provided separately at the inner side, the outer side and the rear of the wheel for retaining the mud thrown up, said brushes being composed of single b-rush elements, a `frame porting part, a member hinged to said frame to which member the brush elements are exchangeably secured,means to adjustably` brushes provided at the` ed, a member hinged to provided on saidk frame for detachably iiXedto a supthe inner side, the outer side and the rear of the wheel for retaining the mudthrown up, said brushes being composed oi?l single brush elements, a frame, a member hinged to said frame ,to kwhich member the brush elements are exchangeably secured, ay supporting member rigidly i'iXed to the vehicle,

an intermediate supporting member detachably iXed to said supporting member, `means detachably secured to said frame and linked by double links to said intermediate' sup'- porting member, `a right andkleft lhand threaded tightening screw diagonally arranged between two pivots of said link connection and cooperating with threaded portions iXed to said -pivots for adjusting the ond guard member in a substantially horizontal operative position for cleaning the tyre. v

In testimony that we claim the `foregoing as our invention, we have signed our names. ALBERT GERMANN.. ERNST LANG.l

rushes in the vertical direction, and a secprovided on said frame 

